Town Supervisor Updates Community on Indian Point Closure

CORTLANDT, NY — Town and school district officials have begun issuing updates to the community about the imminent closure of Indian Point and the many challenges and questions that all of the stakeholders have.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Director of Operations has said that teams will eventually be sent from the State to work at the local level.

“I’m encouraged that the Governor has responded to our call to fully participate and work with our community in solving some very complex issues as we move forward without Entergy," Superintendent Joe Hochreiter said in the update. "I feel very confident that the Governor and his team will work to understand our issues, concerns and strategies regarding how best to move forward so that our students continue to receive a world-class education and Hendrick Hudson remains a destination district.”

Supervisor Linda Puglisi said they are hopeful that the community will receive assistance from the Governor’s departments, however in the interim they will continue to work locally to prepare for this major economic loss.

"We were all very surprised to learn that Entergy, owners of the Indian Point two nuclear plants located in our community and Governor Andrew Cuomo were announcing these plants would close in the years 2020 and 2021," Puglisi said. "Their official announcements occurred on Monday (1/9/17) at separate press conferences. The Superintendent [of Hendrick Hudson schools] and I attended Entergy’s conference that took place in Tarrytown, N.Y. not in Cortlandt. We also attended the County Executive’s press conference where we continued expressing our disappointment that we were not told in advance about this announcement of our largest taxpayer in our area. The Entergy CEO just told us that they needed to keep it confidential, not an adequate response to us since we are the main stakeholders."

Puglisi said Joe Hochreiter and she expressed their concerns over:

1. Tax Stabilization: The school district receives 33% of annual revenue from Indian Point, The Village of Buchanan 46%, the Hendrick Hudson Free Library 28%, a local fire department (Verplanck) 64%, Westchester County 1% and the Town of Cortlandt 2% of our annual revenue for our budget. We are all partners of what’s called a P.I.L.O.T. – a ten year payment in lieu of taxes for tax stabilization. This revenue will end once the plants close.
2. Job Losses: 1,200 permanent jobs plus part-time jobs and many contractors will lose their positions.
3. Safety and Security Issues: The radioactive spent fuel rods that will remain in storage on this site – who will be monitoring and securing these rods?
4. Environmental Issues: The reclamation/clean up of the land including the 33 wells currently on the property, groundwater and Hudson River protection.
5. Further Economic Issues: Impact to our local small businesses – very important and to our Chamber of Commerce. The employees of Indian Point are consumers for these businesses. Also the reduction of assessment on this property once closed will be a factor for our tax stabilization issues. Future property values are big questions already being asked by property owners and we all have to be concerned about this issue.
6. Re-use of the facility and property

"Since the announcement of Indian Point’s closure by Entergy and Governor Cuomo, the Superintendent and I along with our other officials the Mayor of Buchanan and state and county officials have called for immediate information and for the formation of a State/Local Commission to address all of these key points, concerns and questions," Puglisi said. "Letters/e-mails/phone calls have been made or sent to the Governor and to his office. As of today we still have no answers to these questions, only a pledge from the Governor’s Director of Operations that teams will eventually be sent from the State to work with us at the local level. That came about from repeated calls from the Supervisor’s office. At least we had a response and we will see what happens to assist is in the near future. We will continue to be vigilant and to inform you on our progress."

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